SMF

Tim,

Are you saying that the "base" is 60% of the total? So, if I wanted to make 32 ounces of aftershave I would need 19 ounces of the "Base" (and that 19 ounces would be created using the proportions you laid out) and the balance (11 ounces) would be the scent?

Makes me think you could craft a big jug of the base that you could store until such time as you wanted to make a new batch - scented to a clients desire or your whim.

If the base is capable of long-term storage.

OK, this is interesting.

But I would want to scent to last a bit longer - I don't do cologne myself - and rely on the AS as a pleasant scent for myself.

Oh - and Everclear? Buy at the liquor store Everclear? Hard to imaging that's less expensive that what you mentioned.

Altered: Superior 70 mentholated splash. Cheap and good, it smells great going on but has no lingering fragrance discernible to me. I add a large quantity of menthol crystals to the big bottle to make it even colder than normal. I also add a large dollop (1/3 tube) of 444 after shave balm. One bottle lasts 6 months. I'm on my 5th bottle and have plenty in reserve. I haven't taken the time to figure out all of the cool chemistry that those folks in Ponce, Costa Rica have obviously done in order to create my favorite aftershave splash. I just know it's got a lot of alcohol in it.

Fortunately 444 is highly soluble. I was concerned about that before I added it the first time. Once it has been introduced into the bottle, there's never any separation. It's completely dissolved.

I had a friend in Toronto who was strongly interested in blending colognes. I have a bottle of a mix of incense and oudh scents that he created that is quite stunning. Sadly, he drowned in the Turks and Caicos islands earlier this month, so I can no longer ask his advice on such things. He proved that one can mix commercial products and make something better if you know how, unlike the old saw about apple pie and cow pie in which neither is improved.

C.